What has brought back punters to these listless counters? While in some cases, it was the restructuring exercise undertaken by the company in order to improve the shareholder value, in others, it was either a turnaround in the fortunes of the industry or a pick-up in demand. Yet others have been lucky, aided by external factors. Although technology stocks like Infosys, Digital and Global Tele-systems lead the returns list in the BSE specified group, it is the presence of UB group company McDowells with an impressive 10-month return of 578 per cent or that of BPL Ltd with 285 per cent which is striking. Similarly, in the B1 group, the leaders are software firms like Information Technology, Aftek Infosys and Sri Adhikari Brothers, a dark-horse like Hikal Chemicals has managed to give a whopping return of 1185 per cent. Agro-Dutch Foods, a leading exporter of button mushrooms, follows close with a 929 per cent return. This means if you had invested even Rs 1000 in January this year, you would have been richer byRs 8300.

Interestingly, in the specified list, among the pharmaceutical companies it's the Indian companies which have given better returns than their multinational counterparts. Companies like Cipla, Suna Pharma, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Dabur India and Dr. Reddy's have all given triple-digit returns over the last ten months. Barring E-Merck and German Remedies, almost all MNC pharma companies like P&G, Glaxo, Smithkline Pharma, Burroughs Wellcome have managed to give a return of less than 40 per cent during the same period. So, next time you get lured by the MNC tag, remember, it pays to be a `swadeshi'.